Masahiko Kurokawa
Masahiko Kurokawa was a game designer and former Capcom member who was known under his pseudonyms Patariro,Scion; Dire 51 (24 April 2010). "Interview with Kouichi "Isuke" Yotsui". LSCM 4.0. Translated by Gaijin Punch. Accessed 24 Oct 2010. Kuro"黒川 真圭 (Masayoshi Kurokawa)" (in Japanese). GSLA Japan. Accessed May 23, 2016.Commando. (Capcom). Nintendo Entertainment System. Level/area: End credits. (September 27, 1986). and MX-5 (a reference to Ken's code number in Street Fighter 2010)Disney's Magical Quest starring Mickey Mouse. (Capcom). Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Level/area: End credits. (November 20, 1992)., and his work is often incorrectly attributed to "Masayoshi Kurokawa" or "Masahiro Kurokawa"Resident Evil. (Capcom). PlayStation. Level/area: End credits. (March 22, 1996).. He was best known for his work on Mega Man, the NES port of Strider and Resident Evil and his frequent collaborations with Tokuro Fujiwara. History Early Life Masahiko Kurokawa was born in Osaka in 1963. He went to the same university as Kouichi Yotsui and like him followed a career in film.Robson, Daniel (October 2014). "The Making of...Strider". Edge (271). Pg. 96-99. Career at Capcom Kurokawa went to work for Capcom in 1985. His earliest known work for them was the Famicom port of their coin-op Commando. This project was his first with Tokuro Fujiwara, whom he would collaborate with for the duration of his career. Masahiko Kurakawa also planned Capcom's 1987 release, Higemaru MakaijimaHigemaru Makajima. Level/area: End credits. (April 14, 1987)., itself a sequel to another Capcom coin-op, Pirate Ship Higemaru. These minor additions to Capcom's library led to his working on the ''Strider'' project with Kouichi Yotsui, Tatsumi Wada and the artist circle Moto Kikaku. Kurokawa's experience with the Famicom informed his decision to develop the [[Strider (NES)|"consumer version" of Strider]] for that system, which irked Yotsui. Taking advantage of their background in film, Yotsui and Kurokawa developed a detailed setting for the project together, and eventually each one wrote their own script for itSzczepaniak, John (January 10, 2016) "Interview with Roy Ozaki and Kouichi Yotsui". Hardcore Gaming 101 official YouTube page. Accessed May 23, 2016.. Kurokawa and Wada, however, worked more together than with Yotsui for the duration of their work on Strider, tying their individual projects more closely to each other than to his. For unknown reasons, Kurokawa's Strider was released only in the West, not in Japan. After completing Strider, Kurokawa worked on Disney's Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers alongside Keiji InafuneChip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers. (Capcom). NES. Level/area: End credits. (June 8, 1990).. When Akira Kitamura left Capcom in 1990 to start TakeruCRV (August 21, 2009). "Company:Takeru". Game Developer Research Institute. Accessed 17 Dec 2010., Kurokawa took over Kitamura's planning duties on the Mega Man franchise''Mega Man 3''. (Capcom). Level/area: End credits. (September 28, 1990). starting with Mega Man 3. He and Inafune did not see eye-to-eye during the development of Mega Man 3. Inafune had "a lot of preset notions about how things should be"Mega Man: Official Complete Works. Udon Entertainment. January 6, 2010. pp. 16–21. ISBN 978-1-89737-679-9. and claimed that Kurokawa "didn't really understand Mega Man the way his predecessor did". Kurokawa quit the production before the game was finished, leaving the remaining planning responsibilities for Inafune."Power Profiles: Keiji Inafune". Nintendo Power (Nintendo of America) (220): pp. 79–81. October 2007. Kurokawa returned to the Disney license for Capcom's 1992 SNES release, Magical Quest starring Mickey Mouse. He also served in an advisory capacity on the production of Mega Man 5Mega Man 5. Level/area: End credits. (December 4, 1992). and Mega Man 6Mega Man 6. Level/area: End credits. (November 5, 1993)., and worked as producer in the 1996 joint Capcom/Toho live-action series Shichisei Tōshin Guyferd"Shichisei Tōshin Guyferd (1996)" (Japanese). allcinema.net. Accessed May 23, 2016. However, the capstone to his Capcom career was the 1996 PlayStation smash hit, Resident Evil. Freelance Years Tokuro Fujiwara left Capcom after the release of Resident Evil and started his own company, Whoopee Camp. Masahiko Kurokawa followed him. There they created the Tomba! series. Kurokawa wrote the scenarios for both it''Tomba!'' Level/area: End credits. (December 25, 1997). and its eventual sequel, Tomba! 2: The Evil Swine ReturnTomba! 2: The Evil Swine Return. Level/area: End credits. (October 28, 1998).. Tomba! was critically acclaimed and widely anticipated but suffered from poor distribution. Whoopee Camp went under after Tomba! 2. Undeterred, Fujiwara started another company, "Deep Space". Kurokawa followed him to the new company, where he revisited many of the themes from Resident Evil in Deep Space's 2001 PlayStation 2 game, Extermination.Deep Space. Extermination Level/area: End credits. (March 8, 2001). Kurokawa also contributed to Deep Space's 2003 PlayStation 2 release, Hungry Ghosts''Deep Space. ''Hungry Ghosts. (Sony Computer Entertainment). PlayStation. Level/area: End credits. (July 31, 2003)., a first-person horror game geared more towards exploration and "virtual experience" than survival.Hamamura, Hirozaku (2 July 2003). "The Lair of Hungry Ghosts". ''Famitsu''. Translated by Fox, Fennec. Accessed 25 Feb 2011. Deep Space ended up folding as well. Many of its staff went on to form Access Games. After Deep Space, Kurokawa worked as a professor for several Japanese vocational schools. He taught in the gaming career departments of ECC Computer College and Human Academy Co., and was also a contributing member of the "Neko No Mori" drama troupe."メンバー紹介" (in Japanese). "劇団猫の森　HP". Accessed 23 Nov 2012. He has since passed away. Gameography Capcom Post-Capcom References External Link *''Striderpedia'' article Category:Game Designers Category:Former Capcom Staff Category:Articles in need of images Category:Real-life people Category:Male people